Okay, here is the translation following your instructions: The First Strange Stories from the Table

Author: (Ming) Ling Mengchu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This book is one of the "Popular Edition Series of Chinese Classical Novel Masterpieces," a collection of fictional tales written by Ling Mengchu during the late Ming Dynasty. It was compiled in the seventh year of the Tianqi era (1627) of the Ming Dynasty and is collectively known with "The Second Collection of Surprising Stories" as "The Two Pings." The content is complex, and the ideological tendencies are also different. Although the themes of the stories are mostly derived from previous works, they are re-created by Ling, reflecting the social reality and era atmosphere of late Ming, imbued with Ling's own ideas and indignation against the secular world. The book mainly features works depicting the thoughts and actions, as well as the destinies, of merchants, and stories of love. These works hold both cognitive value and positive significance. There are two main issues in terms of the themes and content of "The First Collection of Surprising Stories." The first is the crude depiction of sexuality. Many works, such as "The Western Mountain Temple Conducts a Ghostly Ritual, Kaifeng Prefecture Prepares a Coffin to Rescue a Living Person," "Qiao Exchange of Beards for Sexual Debauchery, Manifestation of a Monastic's Enlightenment," and "A Village Woman Sacrifices Herself for Strange Passion, A Clerk Renders Judgment under False Heaven's Mandate," contain lewd descriptions. Such works reveal the vulgar tastes of the urban populace. The second is the strong influence of religious superstition, the concept of cause and effect, and fatalism. Works like "Ambassador Wang's Authority Over His Subordinates, Li the Ensign's Vengeance in Life," "Financial Scheming in the Outskirts, Ghosts Testifying in Yang Hua's Case," "Li Ke-Rang's Pursuit of Empty Letters, Liu Yuan-Pu's Twin Sons Born to Prosperity," and "Zhang Rong Meets a Tiger through a Medium, Pei Yue-Kè Marries by a Lucky Day" are filled with descriptions of supernatural encounters and the rewards and punishments of good and evil.
"The First Collection of Surprising Stories" is a collection of fictional tales written by Ling Mengchu during the late Ming Dynasty. It was compiled in the seventh year of the Tianqi era (1627) of the Ming Dynasty and was published by the Shang You Tang publishing house the following year. Later, Ling Mengchu compiled "The Second Collection of Surprising Stories," which was published in the fifth year of the Chongzhen era (1632) of the Ming Dynasty. The two books are collectively known as "The Two Pings." "The First Collection of Surprising Stories" originally consisted of forty volumes and forty stories, but the original manuscript is lost. The earliest and most complete version now available is the Shang You Tang edition preserved in the National Library of Japan, which contains thirty-nine volumes (missing volume twenty-three), corresponding to thirty-nine actual stories.